Author's notes: Here's the fourth chapter. I hope all of you like it and it's not too quick of an ending.

Chapter 4: The Final Battle

Marie sighed as she watched the young couple. I wish it hadn't come to this, she thought to herself, they never deserved to be included in my quarrel with Damien.

" It isn't just your battle."

She jumped in surprise at the voice, finally noticing the slim young girl, who'd come up behind her. " Olivia..."

The younger girl cut her off, " Marie you have to stop blaming yourself for everything. You couldn't have known that Damien would turn against us. No one could have. No one else blames you so you shouldn't either. The battle's almost won. Tsunami's dead and Magneto will have to give up eventually.

" As for the X-men. If they choose to go, then they go; if they choose to stay, then they stay.

" There's always a light at the end of the tunnel." Marie watched the girl's expectant eyes before smiling and turning to continue down the hall. Olivia smiled back and walked into the room to join Mark and Elizabeth in a Nintendo game.

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On the other side of the school, the X-men were trying to decide what to do...

" Perhaps there is some way we could help them," the Storm suggested. Jubilee seemed to perk up at the comment.

" You think their might be?!" she exclaimed. Xavier looked thoughtful for a moment.

" If we knew the reason behind their enemies' attacks. We might be able to...Jubilee do you think you could find Elizabeth. Perhaps she can help us." Jubilee nodded eagerly and ran to find her.

She was running so fast that she nearly crashed into Matt who was carrying several rolls of streamers. His eyes were full of life once again and there was a slight spring in his step. He smiled sheepishly, " sorry about this morning I was in a bit of a bad mood."

" That's okay," she said and continued skipping down the hallway. She stopped in mid-skip and turned to face him again, " have you seen Elizabeth?"

" No but you might want to try the rec. rooms because she tends to spend a fair amount of her free time there."

" Okay. Thanks Matt," she resumed her skipping once again. She didn't see the shadow of sorrow flicker across his face.

If only she knew of the battle to come, he thought to himself. He shifted the pile of streamers and headed for the mess hall. He was delayed once again, this time by a gruff voice. " I heard about your mission. I assume that Tsunami's dead." Wolverine stepped out from around the corner.

" How'd you know that?" Matt demanded.

" Your sister told us about the missions and you were practically dripping with his scent and the smell of blood." Matt met the Wolverine's level gaze. " We're trying to find a way to help your organization out. You might want to come to our little meeting" When the boy didn't move, Wolverine turned and walked back the way he had come from. Matt thought for a few seconds and ran to drop the streamers off in the mess hall.

By the time he reached the room where the meeting was being held, most of the silver levels had gathered. Marie and Professor X sat at the head of a long table. He took his place on Marie's right side, in between Mark and Allan.

" Most of you are probably wondering why you've been called here. Professor Xavier has offered us the assistance of the X-men and himself. The final battle is drawing nearer. We must rise up to meet it..."

Matt interrupted her, " the battle's sooner then you think. With Tsunami's death, Damien is likely to declare war any day now. We don't know how many he has so we should be prepared for just about anything." A pregnant silence hung in the air, a few people opened their mouths to say something but thought it over and decided against it. Olivia burst into the room breaking the silence that cloaked its inhabitants. A black envelope was clutched in her hand. She dropped it in front of Marie as if it were on fire.

" One of Damien's men gave this note to one of the children from the lower levels. According to the witnesses the man seemed pretty sure of something and he kept laughing like some sort of maniac." Written upon the red paper contained within the envelope was...

' I, Damien Whitehart, declare war against the Elemental Spirits and the X-men. There shall be no mercy. My father's death shall be avenged with the deaths of every Elemental Spirit.'

Mark and Matthew went rigid as they fought with inner demons. The memories of past battles and assassinations flashed before their eyes. Images of carnage and dying comrades dominated all other thought. It was Jubilee who called them from their oceans of thought. " How are we going to fight them?"

" We'll have to call on every able bodied silver level and the bronze too. It's a good thing we have all of the international schools here as well or we wouldn't stand a chance, even with your help."

" We'll have to act fast. Damien never was one to wait," Allan pointed out.

Marie assigned groups to certain tasks and they all set out to prepare for an all out war. Jubilee and Wolverine had been assigned to Elizabeth's group, to gather and equip the Bronze level students from St. Bonaventure; other groups would be equipping the international students. Extra motorcycles were borrowed from friends and the remaining students without one were instructed to load into any large capacity vehicle they could find and students with powers of teleportation, flight, etc. were instructed to reach the battleground using their own powers. The elderly woman from before was supervising the activities taking place in the underground floor. Jubilee turned to Sam, " who's that woman?" she asked.

Samantha answered without looking up from sharpening a large dagger, " that's my Grandmother. Her name is Josephine but most of us call her Pixie. She is one of four sisters, each sister is in charge of one of our schools. They keep track of Damien and any other troublesome opponents of ours. It's them who decide who goes on what mission and when they will change levels."

A simple 'wow' was all she could fit in before the P.A. system announced the beginning of the final battle. Students streamed to their transports, weapons in hand, ready to fight for their lives and the lives of their fellow students.

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At the battleground the students of St. Bonaventure mixed with students from the international schools and the three other schools based in Calgary. It didn't take long for the first blood to be shed. A fatal gun wound brought down a young bronze level student. The sight of their fallen comrade threw the other Bronze levels into an angry frenzy. Silver and Bronze fought side by side cutting down the enemy. Most of Damien's troops were unwilling to fight together or too sure of themselves unlike the students who had been taught to fight together and watch each other's backs. Damien lost most of his troops to his enemies' swords but the Elementals were not unmarked either. They two had lost some good soldiers and many were wounded but their souls were dedicated to their cause and they kept on fighting.

A fierce cry rose over the battlefield; the Wolf had spotted his prey. Sword drawn and eyes wild, he charged towards the man who had caused his family so much grief. Damien was taken by surprise and could not move out of the way in time but he pulled a dagger from his boot, planning to take his attacker down with him. In his anger, Grey Wolf failed to see the dagger pulled from it's hiding place. Damien died with a cruel grin plastered across his face. Wolverine caught Grey Wolf as he collapsed, the dagger had fallen from its place and the wound bled freely. As he cradled the boy in his arms, memories fought their way to the surface. Another young man similar in looks to his present burden but alive and well walking beside him. The marriage of that young man, now a bit older, to a beautiful young woman with red hair that flowed down her back. The births of their three children, a girl with red fuzz for hair and a pair of twins, each growing into a young child. The same man dying in his arms, asking him to care for the children that hid under the nearby porch. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks and blood soaked his shirt but he took no notice of either. The boy in his arms looked up at him and whispered with his last breath, " my father would be proud of what you have done for us all, and so would yours." With those final words he closed his eyes a final time. The dark clouds above split open, releasing torrents of rain that washed away the blood and soaked the bodies of both the living and dead.

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Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men or the Calgary Tower or any of the other places mentioned in my story. I do own the Elemental Spirits so please don't use them without my permission.